STAY HEALTHY THIS MONSOON

- Vanlalruata

IVth Semester, 2016

Exams are coming and all the students need to stay healthy in this monsoon season. The monsoon season is the time of the year when most of a region’s annual rainfall occurs. It is a time when air quality improves, freshwater quality improves, and vegetation grows substantially, leading to crop yields late in the season. Floods cause rivers to overflow their banks, and some animals to retreat to higher ground. Soil nutrients diminish and erosion increases. The incidence of malaria increases in areas where the rainy season coincides with high temperatures. Health problems are always on the rise during the rainy season, be it cold and flu, viral fever, etc.

photo @ will_naxxville

          Sipping on a hot cup of tea or ensuring that you stay dry is not enough. With the changing weather conditions, you also need to alter your lifestyle. Street foods, juices and even water from outside should be avoided as much as possible because most of the water borne diseases like dysentery, cholera, etc., are caused due to impure water during the monsoon season. According to nutritionists, lots of green and coloured vegetables should be included in our diet since they have a good amount of nutrients that will keep us fit during the season. We should make sure that we wah all our vegetables with warm water or with salt to get rid of the accumulated dirt.

          Physicians say that if we get wet in the rain, we should go for a shower immediately to protect ourselves from infections. We should also avoid entering air conditioned room with wet hair and damp clothes to prevent ourselves from viral fever or cold and cough. According to nutritionists, the fish and prawns we buy should be fresh otherwise it can lead to stomach infection.

          It is extremely important to drink lots of water during the monsoon season so that our system is clean. We can also alternate tea and coffee with herbal drinks like jasmine tea, chamomile tea or green tea to keep us healthy since it builds up our resistance to fight against infection. Drinking too much coffee should also be avoided as it tends to dehydrate the fluids in our body.

          Make sure that your house is free from pest during the season. Replace broken or rusted drainpipes since they are the breeding ground for germs and bacteria and can cause diseases like malaria and dengue which are very common during the season. Exercise is also important but since we cannot venture out during most of the season for our morning walk, we can simply indulge in some free hand exercises at home.

          Here are few homemade remedies, if you are having cold and cough, boil water with dry ginger for relief. If you have sore throat or throat pain, gargle with lukewarm saline water. Boil tulsi, ginger and honey and drink the juice to treat viral fever. In case you derive any skin infections, boil neem leaves in water and take a bath with it.

          These are the few things that can make us improve our health condition during this monsoon season. Since it is an exam season too for us, we all need to be careful in maintaining our health. We need to be fit, strong and healthy so we can make ample use of our brains.